On 11 June 2026, Air Traffic Control the Netherlands (LVNL) will implement two safety measures for aircraft departing from Schiphol. With the introduction of increasingly modern aircraft, these measures are necessary to continue to guarantee the high level of air traffic safety.
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These involve adjusting a night-time departure route from the Polderbaan for air traffic bound for southern destinations and ensuring more precise navigation of turns on departure routes from the Kaagbaan.
Mark van Knippenberg, Chief Operations Officer, said: “To ensure the high level of safety in Dutch airspace, we continuously monitor the safety of our air traffic management. Where necessary, we take measures to ensure the safety of air traffic.”
Modern aircraft have different characteristics and flight performance. “This means that we sometimes have to adapt routes or procedures accordingly. When developing safety measures, our starting point is to minimise the impact on the local community as much as possible,” says Maartje van der Helm, General Manager Performance & Development.
LVNL has prepared these safety measures following intensive consultation with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. Schiphol, airlines, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate, and members of the local community – including provincial authorities, local councils, environmental services and residents’ representatives – have also been involved in a consultation process.
The first safety measure concerns the use of a different existing departure route at night (23:00 – 06:00) by aircraft taking off from the Polderbaan with a southern destination. This ensures that the risk of aircraft being in close proximity to one another during a turn on the current route near Zaanstad cannot arise any longer. From 11 June, these aircraft will use an existing departure route whereby, after taking off from the Polderbaan, they will turn left near Limmen/Castricum. The aircraft will then follow a new route over the sea in a southerly direction and return to land at a high altitude of 6 to 7 kilometres, in close proximity to Noordwijk. This concerns approximately 600 flights per year (2 to 6 flights per night when the Polderbaan is in use as a take-off runway). As a result of this change, fewer aircraft will fly over the Zaanstad/Amsterdam region at night and more aircraft will fly over the Castricum/Heiloo region.
Watch the explanatory animation for more information about this safety measure (in Dutch):
The second safety measure concerns the departure routes from the Kaagbaan. There are two options here for aircraft turning westwards at Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep and flying eastwards at Kudelstaart and Rijsenhout. One option is a route with a fixed turn radius which, with the aid of precise systems in the cockpit, is always flown in the same way. Another option is one without a fixed turn radius, whereby the execution depends on weather conditions and the type of aircraft. There is a risk that an aircraft flying the departure route with a fixed turn radius may be able to come in close proximity to an aircraft flying the option without a fixed turn radius that took off before it. From 11 June 2026, air traffic controllers will order pilots to always fly the route with a fixed turn radius. If an aircraft does not have the correct equipment for this, the pilot must report this before take-off, so that air traffic control is able to anticipate this. This safety measure will not result in any changes to existing routes or the number of aircraft departing from the Kaagbaan runway. However, more air traffic will fly the fixed-turn-radius route, which will cause a local shift in noise levels.
Watch the explanatory animation for more information about this safety measure (in Dutch):
LVNL realises that these safety measures will lead to a shift in air traffic and with that may result in less noise nuisance for residents in some residential areas and more in others. Several local authorities have lodged objections with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management regarding the consultation process followed and the decision to amend the night-time departure route from the Polderbaan runway, due to the expected additional noise nuisance in these areas.
LVNL will evaluate the consultation process and the use of the route, including the actual noise impacts, after three years. LVNL, together with Schiphol and with the support of airlines, remains committed to reducing noise nuisance from air traffic in the local community around Schiphol. Further information on this is available on our website minderhinderschiphol.nl